Some videos of our ministry

Just wanted to share some videos of our ministry here in Nicaragua with regards to the children and youth whom we are reaching out to with the truth of the Gospel and the love of Christ. The Lord continues to use this ministry to reach many kids and youth in Guillermo’s neighborhood. The truth is that it is sometimes very difficult trying to reach these kids. So many of them are just very broken and come from broken homes where neither love nor discipline is modeled to them. So, often times many of these kids bring a lot of distractions and interruptions while we are trying to share precious truths of God’s Word with them. Thank God that Guillermo has way more patience than I do and therefore we are able to balance each other out. But my desire is that these kids get it…that they really understand the Gospel…that they are able to comprehend the truth of the glory of God and His amazing love. But I must remember that not only are they kids who are easily distracted by a mere butterfly that passes by, but also that many of them are kids who are growing up on the street without having a parental figure who is really invested in them, showing them both healthy love and discipline. These kids are broken and they require a lot of patience, love, compassion, and understanding.

For this reason, Guillermo and I have been talking more and more about the need to invest more in these kids lives beyond a once a week Bible Study. We really need to show them our love and compassion on a more frequent and intimate basis. So, we have started to try and meet with them on Saturday mornings just to play soccer or other games with them and continue to build relationships with them. Maria has also invited one of the girls (Johanna) to come to our house once in a while so that they can hang out and bake cookies or sew. This girl is very sweet, but seems to be starving for real love. She is being raised by her Grandmother even though her mother is alive and well. Every time Maria mentions God’s love while she is teaching the girls, she tells me that Johanna just seems to check out and stare outside as if she is totally disconnected from the concept that God loves her. So, I think it is awesome that we can have this girl come to our house and just model to her what the love of Christ really looks like. It is awesome also that she can have this modeled to her whenever she comes to Guillermo and Hacknier’s house. Our prayer is that the Lord will smother her with His love and that she will come to know His amazing love and salvation.

So, Guillermo and I invited the kids on Saturday to play a game of soccer in his neighborhood. We all had a good time. We bought them snacks and drinks and then afterwards we all piled in my pickup truck and headed back to Guillermo’s house where I brought our flat screen TV so that we could all watch the soccer game between Barcelona and Real Madrid. The kids were going crazy since Barcelona won the game and most of us here are Barcelona fans. It was a blessing. There were about 14 kids that came. We had a great time.

We had our Tuesday night Bible Study with the kids yesterday. Since it was the last Tuesday of the month, we took them all to a very nice park where they had never been. They had a blast. It was a great time to get to spend with them and get to know some of them better. There have been some new kids that have recently started coming. But before we went to the park, we had a time of worship and a time of Bible Study. For the next several weeks we are going to be sharing the specifics of the Gospel with them, so Guillermo took the first session last night and gave them an introduction to what the Gospel is using Romans 1:16 as a reference. He did a great job. It was a blessing seeing him teach since these are things that I have been training him in for the past several months. So, its awesome to see how God is giving him great understanding and that he is able to clearly articulate these truths.

Precious cargo...the main reason why we bought a pickup truck.

I finished taking Guillermo through our first leg of training where we studied intensely the doctrines of grace for several months. Now, we are moving on to other issues of theology. Tomorrow I will start teaching him about the different covenants that God has instituted throughout the Scriptures and how those covenants pertain to us today. The formal name is Covenant Theology. It is so great teaching these precious truths because it also ministers tremendously to my own heart as I both spend hours pouring over the Scriptures in preparation as well as when I teach it. It is such a blessing. There is an older youth in the program who feels called to the ministry and has asked that I begin training him as well. So, I’m sure that my schedule is going to be getting much more busy in the coming months. Guillermo and I have also been invited by one of his friends who is a pastor to come to his church and preach on a Sunday morning pertaining to the doctrine that we have been studying. So, praise God that His truth is going forward and that even other pastors are interested in hearing what it is that we are studying.

We are excited about the plans that God is leading us towards and will be sharing these things with you in the near future. We also will be sharing in the next post our plans of how we want to bless these kids for Christmas and how you can play a special part in doing this. Que Dios sea glorificado en todo lo que hacemos!